EARLY LAW

Early Law | Daiyah

EARLY LAW

So do not lose heart or be grieved, for you will surely prevail if you are believers...Qur'an 3:139

We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to all Prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them... Qur'an 2:136

"Those who believe, and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabians, and who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." .... (Qur'an 2:62, repeated verbatim in Qur'an 5:69).

Judaism Christianity, and Islam, in contrast to Hinduism and Buddhism, are all monotheistic faiths that worship the God of Adam, Abraham, and Moses -Creator, Sustainer, and Lord of the universe. They share a common belief in the oneness of God (monotheism), sacred history (history as the theater of God's activity and the encounter of God and humankind), prophets and divine revelation, angels, and Satan. All stress moral responsibility and accountability, Judgment Day, and eternal reward and punishment.

All three faiths emphasize their special covenant with God, for Judaism through Moses, Christianity through Jesus, and Islam through Muhammad. Christianity accepts God's covenant with and revelation to the Jews but traditionally has seen itself as superseding Judaism with the coming of Jesus. Thus Christianity speaks of its new covenant and New Testament. So, too, Islam and Muslims recognize Judaism and Christianity: their biblical prophets (among them Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus) and their revelations (the Torah and the New Testament, or Message of Jesus). Muslim respect for all the biblical prophets is reflected in the custom of saying "Peace and blessings be upon him" after naming any of the prophets and in the common usage of the names Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Daoud (David), Sulayman (Solomon), and Issa (Jesus) for Muslims. In addition, Islam makes frequent reference to Jesus and to the Virgin Mary, who is cited more times in the Quran than in the New Testament.

However, Muslims believe that Islam supersedes Judaism and Christianity-that the Quran is the final and complete word of God and that Muhammad is the last of the prophets. In contrast to Christianity, which accepts much of the Hebrew Bible, Muslims believe that what is written in the Old and New Testaments is a corrupted version of the original revelation to Moses and Jesus. Moreover, Christianity's development of "new" dogmas such as the belief that Jesus is the Son of God and the doctrines of redemption and atonement is seen as admixing God's revelation with human fabrication.

Peace is central to all three faiths. This is reflected historically in their use of similar greetings meaning "peace be upon you": shalom aleichem in Judaism, pax vobiscum in Christianity, and salaam alaikum in Islam. Often, however, the greeting of peace has been meant primarily for members of one's own faith community.

Leaders of each religion, from Joshua and King David to Constantine and Richard the Lion-Hearted to Muhammad and Saladin, have engaged in holy wars to spread or defend their communities or empires. The joining of faith and politics continues to exist in modern times, though manifested in differing ways, as seen in Northern Ireland, South Africa, America, Israel, and the Middle East.

Islam is similar to Judaism in its emphasis on practice rather than belief, on law rather than dogma. The primary religious discipline in Judaism and Islam has been religious law; for Christianity it has been theology. Historically, in Judaism and Islam the major debates and disagreements have been among scholars of religious law over matters of religious practice, whereas in Christianity the early disputes and cleavages in the community were over theological beliefs: the nature of the Trinity or the relationship of Jesus' human and divine natures.

Both Jews and Christians hold a special status within Islam because of the Muslim belief that God revealed His will through His prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

Say, We believe in God, and in what has been revealed to us, and in what has been sent down to Abraham and Ismail and Isaac and Jacob and their offspring, and what has been revealed to Moses and Jesus and to all the prophets of our Lord. We make no distinction between them and we submit to Him and obey. (Quran 3:84)

The Quran and Islam regard Jews and Christians as children of Abraham and refer to them as "People of the Book," since all three monotheistic faiths descend from the same patrilineage of Abraham. Jews and Christians trace themselves back to Abraham and his wife Sarah; Muslims, to Abraham and his servant Hagar. Muslims believe that God sent his revelation (Torah) first to the Jews through the prophet Moses and then to Christians through the prophet Jesus. They recognize many of the biblical prophets, in particular Moses and Jesus, and those are common Muslim names. Another common Muslim name is Mary. In fact, the Virgin Mary's name occurs more times in the Quran than in the New Testament; Muslims also believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. However, they believe that over time the original revelations to Moses and Jesus became corrupted. The Old Testament is seen as a mixture of God's revelation and human fabrication. The same is true for the New Testament and what Muslims see as Christianity's development of "new" and erroneous doctrines such as that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus' death redeemed and atoned for humankind's original sin.

Judaism is a tribal religion that is mostly confessed by a Jew tribe. They are only around 14 million people in the world. Judaism and Islam regard there is only one God. The Jews call the God as Yahweh which is third singular person means “He who is.” Muslims call God as Allah which is singular form and genderless from ilah (God). In the Quran, chapter Al Ikhlas stated the unity of God:

Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten.

And there is none comparable unto Him.

Actually in the Bible the Unity of God is also stated in the Ten Commandments of God in Exodus

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [Exodus 20:1-3]

Though in Judaism and Islam the Monotheism of God is absolute including of God’s essence, in Christianity there is a doctrine named Trinity that says God exists as 3 persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who are united in one substance or being. The trinity consists of 2 words: Three and Unity. Three is One and One is three. This concept is contradicted to Al Quran that says God has no Father or Son.

“And say: Praise be to Allah, Who hath not taken unto Himself a son, and Who hath no partner in the Sovereignty,nor hath He any protecting friend through dependence. And magnify Him with all magnificence.” [Al Israa’:111]

“Allah hath not chosen any son, nor is there any God along with Him; else would each God have assuredly championed that which he created, and some of them would assuredly have overcome others. Glorified be Allah above all that they allege.” [Al Mu’minuun:91]

In the early days of Islam, Muslims and Christians enjoyed a good relationship. But as history developed their relationship became tense and antagonistic. In this article we want to show that this antagonism is not of the essence of Islam; it is rather contextual and related to specific realities in the growth of Islam. Islam arose to append Ismail's descendants to the descendants of Is'haq (Isaac), who had formed the central pole of faith in Judaism and Christianity for the global providence of salvation, so that they too could participate in supporting the global foundation of faith in preparing for the Second Advent of the Messiah. Many Muslims think that the Qur'an abrogates the Bible, but in fact that is not true according to the verses of the Qur'an itself. The Qur'an does not state that it came to abrogate the Torah and Gospel. Rather, it came confirming them and including the values they have. Abrogation as mentioned in the verse:

None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten (or postponed), but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things? (2:106)

This means the establishment of a new branch from the roots of the tree of Ibrahim (Abraham) and Ismail (Ishmael). That new branch is the Nation of Islam, which was finally meant to be an equal peer and a rival for Judaism and Christianity, the branches of Is'haq ibn Ibrahim (Isaac son of Abraham). The historically fixed enmity between Muslim and the people of the Book, the expansion of Islam into Christian territories, Christian denial of Mohammed, the Crusades and colonialism increased the distrust and suspicion of each other. This situation has been aggravated by recent political conditions in the Islamic world where polarization between Muslims and Jews and Christians is at a peak.

Generally speaking, the People of the Book have denied the prophecy of Mohammed, and Muslims responded to the disbelief of the People of the Book by claiming that the Torah and the Gospel were perverted. While the Qur'an decides and confirms that it contains the divine truth, it confirms as well that Bible of the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) also contains divine truth. In fact, the Qur'an contains numerous verses that confirm the validity of the Torah and the Gospel for those who believe in them. The Qur'an even demands that the Peoples of the Book turn to their Books and follow them.
Distortion of early law here means contextual manipulation or misinterpretation of the Books, not a flaw in the Books themselves as we will discuss. People who do this want to flow with their personal emotions and wishful thinking. Of them the Qur'an says,

"Not your desire, nor those of the people of the Book (can prevail); who ever works evil will be requited accordingly." (4:122)

Of course, there are many verses in the Qur'an that accuse the People of the Book and point out their mistakes. These texts are the most commonly used in the Islamic world today. Similar verses also exist in the Bible; the Bible contains many stories where God scolds people for their mistakes. The Qur'an also contains some verses that speak positively about the people of the Book, but today's Muslims are not concerned with these verses, because they do not match their mindset. It is not a matter of fanaticism, sympathy or allegiance; it is about seeking the truth and correct information. Disregarding the truth or interpreting it incorrectly does not mean that it does not exist. Such prejudices will only disable the potential energies of the nation of Islam, block it from fulfilling its mission, and thus hinder God's desire from reaching its correct goals. The Qur'an contains a balance of justice and a divine vision, both for the People of the Book and for Muslims. With all this, divine providence wished for the Islamic nation to be a moderate nation that judges objectively, with truth and justice. That is why the Qur'an contains verses that call for the unity of the Abrahamic faiths and all monotheistic people. It also contains verses that invite the religions to unite in a unique global spirit that is not found elsewhere. However, many Muslims ignore these verses, and hence they never elevate themselves to the level of these great verses of the Qur'an.

Surely We, ever We, have been sending down the Remembrance, and surely We are indeed preservers of it. (15:9)

Let us now discuss some Qur'anic verses which some consider as proof of distortions in the Bible itself and other related issues:

Some of the ones who have judaized pervert the wordings from their original meanings... (4:46) ...they pervert the wording from their contexts. (5:13)

It is clear here that "pervert the wordings" refers to the actions of those who interpret the texts incorrectly to fit with their desires, interests and what they are familiar with. It does not refer to distortions in the original text itself.

Surely We sent down the Torah, wherein there is a guidance and light... and whoever does not judge according to what Allah has sent down, then those are (who are) the disbelievers. (5:44)

This verse invites the people of the Torah to judge by the Torah.

If any [Christians] do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. (5:47)

This verse invites Christians to judge by the Gospel. This verse speaks to Christians and describes the ones who do not judge by the Gospel as dissolute.

If only the People of the Book had believed and been righteous, we should indeed have blotted out their iniquities and admitted them to Garden of Bliss. (5:65, 66)

Not all of them are alike: of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (for the right); they rehearse the verses of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. (3:113)

The Jewish religious leaders thought that Isa had come "to destroy the law and the prophets" and considered him to be their enemy. They rejected him, thinking that they were doing the right thing. He therefore said to them,

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matt. 5:17)

Many Jewish leaders of that time thought that Allah's grace and words were completed with Musa's laws and the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. They were not expecting a new message, and thought that the Messiah would come to empower Musa's book and guide them in the same historical path as the prophets and jurists of the old days. They overlooked the fact that Allah's blessing is infinite and His words are endless. Isa came to guide the Jewish people to a new stage of divine blessing and wisdom, because the law of Musa had fulfilled its purpose and Isa, without ignoring the law, came to guide them to the higher wisdom and spirit of the law.

Isa (Jesus) desired to simplify Musa's teachings and laws, and show the Jewish people the core of man's problems in order to solve them. Then he intended to do the same thing for the whole of humanity in order to free them from Satan's grip. Isa was to establish a model family and show the example of the heavenly nation through establishing an earthly kingdom under his godly reign. Isa the Messiah wanted to take the Jewish people from the concept of following outward laws to the concept of completing the law with truth and fulfilling the order of the Old Testament with wisdom. But he was misunderstood and taken to the cross.

The core of Islam is love, freedom, mercy, forgiveness and universality. Before the appearance of Islam, Mecca and the Arab people as a whole had rejected Christianity because they were proud that they were descendants of Ibrahim and they believed that they were also Allah's chosen people. This was the same reason why they rejected the Judeo-Christian Islam, and considered Muhammad to be advocating a foreigner's religion. If we look carefully in the early history of Islam, we can recognize that the first mission of Islam was a reformation movement within Christianity.

One may say:

"The religious hostility between Christians and Muslim has obscured their common origin, their co-hiership in the legacy."

We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had God willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. So, compete with each other in doing good. Every one of you will return to God, and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed. (Qur'an, 5:48)

For Torah-literate Jews (and Christians, for that matter), the introduction to Islam takes place at a very early age. This introduction, which sets the stage for all future opinions, consists of the first reading of Genesis 16:12. This passage makes a statement about Ishmael, the son of Abraham, the brother of Isaac, and -- according to Arab tradition -- the co-founder (with his father, Abraham) of the religion of Islam. Genesis 16:12 makes the following statement about Ishmael:

"And he shall be a wild ass of a man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him..."

But is this really what it says? Let us look at the original Hebrew, which has no vowels, and reconsider this passage according to traditional Hebrew grammar:

If this unvoweled Hebrew were given to Israeli grammar school students, how would they interpret it? First of all, let us consider the word . The Hebrew preposition usually means "in" or "with". Therefore, the most plausible interpretation of is "his hand (shall be) with everyone". Not "against everyone"!

An analysis of these passages reveals that , by itself, never means "against". I shall leave it as an exercise to the interested reader to look these references up, and to persuade himself that the inseparable prefix acquires this meaning only in a context where the "against-ness" is provided by another word or words in the verse.

The analogy to English is very good in this case. If we say that we are "with" someone, this almost invariably means that we are for him, not against him. For example, the common expression

"God be with you..."

..surely means "may God be for you" (not "may God be against you"!). But if we say:

"I shall fight with you..."

..then we have, in English, an example of the use of the word "with" to mean "against", for, if we fight with someone, then we are against that person. But the sense of "against-ness" is provided by the word "fight", not by the word "with"!

The parallel to Hebrew is quite exact. In each of the above-cited examples, the inseparable prefix, , takes on the meaning "against" either because there's some other word in the passage which provides that meaning, or else because the context makes that meaning clear.

This is not so in Genesis 16:12. There are no words in the verse which suggests "against-ness", and, as we shall shortly see, the context not only fails to support that meaning, but, on the contrary, essentially rules it out.

Application of the same logic shows that the most plausible interpretation of

is: "and every man's hand (shall be) with him". Not "against him"!

Next, let us consider the word . If we look back two verses, to Genesis 16:10, we see "And the angel of the Lord said ... 'I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.' ". Viewed in this light, the word takes on an entirely different significance. There is another Hebrew word constructed from the same consonants, but with different vowel points. This is the verb ...

... which means "to bring forth, to bear fruit". (Although this word is found in modern Hebrew dictionaries, it seems that the preferred form of the verb, these days, is

The last letter changes from aleph to hay, but the meaning is the same. I wonder why this latter form is preferred?)

Now, the participle form of is

But in the Bible, the letter (vav), is usually omitted from participles, so in un-voweled Hebrew we would expect to see , representing the un-voweled form of

Anyone who wishes to dispute this grammatical principle, as it applies to Genesis 16:12, will be hard-pressed to make a case, because the very next verse, Genesis 16:13, features the word

..., the participle of the Qal form of the verb "to speak". Note that the Hebrew letter vav is absent. It is pointless to doubt that vav is usually omitted in participles in the Torah.

Since G-d says here that He will "greatly multiply" [Ishmael's] seed, so that it "shall not be numbered for multitude", we must ask which is the most plausible interpretation of

Does it mean "a wild ass of a man", or does it mean "a fruitful man"? In the context of the passage, it can have only one plausible interpretation:

"...a fruitful man..."

Our suspicions are further aroused when we consult the Brown, Driver and Briggs lexicon (BDB), to find out where in the Bible -- if anywhere-- the word

occurs in a setting in which it really does mean "wild ass" (exclusive of Gen 16:12): BDB gives the following:

So the word occurs in Job, and in the Prophets. Note that there is no use of the word anywhere in the Torah! (Unless Genesis 16:12 is considered to be such a use). In general, then (admittedly depending upon the age of the book of Job), it can be said that the word ...

..., meaning "wild ass", does not appear in Hebrew literature until 1,000 years after the Torah was written.

What other contextual evidence is there which confirms that correct vowel points would cause the correct translation to be ...

..., meaning "fruitful"? We have already seen that two verses above, in Genesis 16:10, God says to Hagar, "I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude". Is this not synonymous with "fruitful"? If we now look ahead slightly, to Genesis 17:6, we see God blessing Abraham with the following words:

Here we see the Hifil form of the same verb,

to inform us that God will make Abraham "fruitful". Fruitful, not "ass-like"!! Again, a few verses down (Genesis 17:20), God addresses Ishmael in the same manner, promising to make him "fruitful" also, according to the words

This again is the Hifil form of the verb

... to reiterate the message of Genesis 16:10, where God told Hagar "I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude".

The equivalence of and is further evidenced in Hosea 13:15 (Haftorah Vayyetze), where we see the word ...

..., which BDB identifies as the Hifil form of , imperfect, 3rd person masculine, "as if from (!)"

In summary, if we now employ the most plausible interpretation of the word , and utilize the standard grammar of the preposition , we arrive at the following interpretation of Genesis 16:12:

..which means that what our Bible really says about Ishmael is:

"... he will be a fruitful man: his hand shall be with everyone, and every man's hand shall be with him..." (!!)

This is a markedly different interpretation than the one given by our Rabbis. At this time, claimed by Jews, Christians and Muslims to be the dawn of the Messianic Era, itsn't it time we told the truth?

Qur'an 4:46

Some of the Jews change words from their contexts and say: "We hear and disobey," twisting their tongues and attacking the religion so Allah cursed them.'"

The Jews deny Jesus as a god or even a prophet. Some of them tried to kill Jesus as a pervert, but in the end they didn't. On the contrary, the Christians regard Jesus as a god. Islam regards Jesus not as a god, but only a human being, like all other prophets, that became a messenger of God:

“And when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say my mother for two gods beside Allah? He saith: Be glorified to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then Thou my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. Lo! Thou, only Things Hidden.” [Al Maa’idah:116]

According to Islam Jesus, like all prophets, is only a prophet to call people to worship only one God as God orders in the Ten Commandments:

“I spake unto them only that which Thou commandedst me, and your Lord. I was a witness of them while I dwelt tookest me Thou wast the Watcher over them. Thou art” [Al Maa’idah:117]

Nonetheless, on Matthew 1:16-18 said that Jesus’ father is Joseph though Jesus was born from virgin Mary before Mary married to Joseph:

“ And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” [Matthew 1:16-18]

Jesus’ family tree at last follows Joseph’s instead of Mary’s. On another verse described Jesus as the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” [Matthew 1:1]

“For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.” [Matthew 12:8]

According to Islam Jesus is the Son of Mary. Not the Son of God or Joseph:

“The Messiah, son of Mary, was no other than a messenger, whom had passed away before him. And his mother was a used to eat (earthly) food. See how we make the revelations they are turned away!” [Al Maa’idah:75]

In the Gospel Matthew told how Jesus the God caught, spit, and beaten by men:

“27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.” [Matthew 27:27-31]

In Islam God is the Most Powerful. He cannot be beaten by any man even if they are all join together against Him:

“If He will, He can be rid of you and bring (instead of you). That is not a hard thing for Allah.” [Al Faathir: 16-17]

“Thy Lord is the Absolute, the Lord of Mercy. If He will, He can remove you and can cause what He will to follow after you, even as He raised you from the seed of other folk.” [Al An’aam:133]

In Gospel Matthew said how Jesus complain and cry: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,

“And say: Praise be to Allah, Who hath not taken unto Himself a son, and Who hath no partner in the Sovereignty, nor hath He any protecting friend through dependence. And magnify Him with all magnificence.” [Al Israa’:111]

In Gospel Mark 11:12-13 said that Jesus felt hungry and did not know if the Fig tree is fruitless because it is not its season.

11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: 13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.” [Mark 11:12-13]

But God is All Knowing:

“And with Him are the keys of the invisible. None but He knoweth them. And He knoweth what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falleth but He knoweth it. Not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, naught of wet or dry but it is noted in a clear record“ [Al An’aam:59]

In Matthew 8:24 said that Jesus was a sleep:

“And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.” [Matthew 8:24]

According to Islam, God never feel weak such as sleepy or sleep:

Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.” [Al Baqarah:255]

In the Ten Commandments stated in Exodus 20:4-5 God forbid man to make any statue:

20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” [Exodus 20:4-5]

However the Christians now make many statues of Jesus and Mary and put them on the churches.

In Islam making statues is forbidden. In a Hadeeth of Bukhari, Ummu Salamah and Ummu Habibah said there is a beautiful church in Habsyi (Mary Church) with some beautiful statues. Muhammad (PBUH) said

“When their saint died, the Christians will build church on the grave. Then they make many statues in the church. They are the worst creatures before God in the day of judgement”

Though the Jews Holy Book is quoted in Bible as the Old Testament, yet there are some significant differences between them. The Jews Holy Book mostly written in Hebrew and a few in Aramaic. On the other the Old Testament in Christianity the oldest one written in Greek with 7 additional books. The New Testament consists of 27 books (including 4 gospels) and originally written in Greek between 50-150 AD (Jesus died arount 29 AD). The gospel consists of 4 different versions originally written in Greek namely: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. The Gospels written around 70-100 AD about 40 years after the death of Jesus.

“And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli” [Luke 3:23]

If in Luke 3:23 Jesus’ grand father’s name is Heli, In Matthew 1:16 Jesus’ grand father is Jacob:

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” [Matthew 1:16]

On the other hand, there is only one version of the Al Quran which is memorized by millions of Muslims and still in its original language: Arab, the language of Muhammad. (PBUH)

Al Quran revealed by Allah to Muhammad. And Muhammad passed it on his followers. Some of the followers memorized Al Quran, some wrote it down on several media (leaves, bones, leather, etc). Abu Bakar, Muhammad’s friend, gather the Al Quran to be one. And Usman, another Muhammad’s friend, then compiled the Quran into one book called Mushaf Usmani with punctuation mark so the spelling complies with the Arabic language standard.

In Judaism and Islam, Circumcision is an obligation for men. It is complied with Bible:

17:10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cutoff from his people; he hath broken my covenant”

[Genesis 17:10-14]

The uncircumcised man is regarded as unclean in Isaiah 52:1:

“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean” [Isaiah 52:1]

However though God said in Genesis 17:13 that circumcision is an everlasting covenant, the Christians no longer doing the obligation because Paul who claimed become apostle after Jesus died (when Jesus alive Paul is Jesus enemy) said that circumcision is no longer an obligation:

2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?” [Romans 2:25-29 – 3:1]

In Judaism and Islam, eating swine is strictly forbidden. It is complied with Leviticus 11:7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8:

11:7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cloven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. 8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcass shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.” [Leviticus 11:7-8]

In the Al Quran the prohibition stated:

“He hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swine flesh, and that which hath been immolated to (the name of) any other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” [Al Baqarah:173]

Nevertheless Swine Flesh is a common food among the Christians now. In the Christianity known the Original Sin Doctrine. All human race are sinners because of Adam committed sin by eating forbidden fruit. That is why Jesus sent down as the Saviour to redeem the original sin. In Exodus 20:5 God said that He will punish the children, the third and fourth generation for the iniquity of their fathers:

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;” [Exodus 20:5]

In Islam every one will only responsible for their own sin. No one can be punished because of other people sin:

“Say: Shall I seek another than Allah for Lord, when He is Lord of all things? Each soul earneth only on its own account, nor doth any laden bear another's load. Then unto your Lord is your return and He will tell you that wherein ye differed.” [Al An’aam:164]

In the Old Testament, Exodus 21:11-22:19 stated the Retaliation Law, namely death sentence for killer, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth:

“He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.” [Exodus 21:12]

But on the New Testament the Retaliation Law is eliminated and the Christians no longer follow the rule. In the Al Quran the Retaliation Law restored:

“O ye who believe! Retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the murdered; the freeman for the freeman, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female...” [Al Baqarah:178]

“And there is life for you in retaliation, O men of understanding, that ye may ward off (evil).” [Al Baqarah:179]

In the Christianity Adam and Eve remain as sinners and passed their sin to their descendants as original sin, in Islam after they regretted and asked God’s forgiveness, God forgive them. There is no original sin to pass to their descendants.

“Then Adam received from his Lord words (of revelation), and He relented toward him. Lo! He is the Relenting the Merciful.” [Al Baqarah:37]

The Jews regard themselves as the Chosen People while the Christians believe there is no salvation for those who don’t believe Jesus as a God so they send many evangelists/missionaries all over the world to make people become Christians. Islam said only Islam the religion that God loves:

“Lo! religion with Allah is The Surrender to His will and guidance (Islam). Those who (formerly) received the Scripture differed only after knowledge came unto them, through transgression among themselves. Whoso disbelieves the revelations of Allah (will find that) Lo! Allah is swift at reckoning.” [Ali ‘Imran:19]

“And whoso seeketh as religion other than the Surrender to Allah (Islam) it will not be accepted from him, and he will be a loser in the Hereafter.” [Ali ‘Imran:85]

Do you want to hear what God said about Islam? Here is His Sayings as recorded in the Al Quran:

“Unquestionably, for Allah is the pure religion (Islam). And those who take protectors besides Him [say], “We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allah in position.” Indeed, Allah will judge between them concerning that over which they differ. Indeed, Allah does not guide he who is a liar and [confirmed] disbeliever.” [Az Zumar 3]

“The Religion before Allah is Islam (submission to His will): nor did the people of the Book dissent therefrom except through envy of each other, after knowledge had come to them. But if any deny the Signs of Allah, Allah is swift in calling to account.” [Ali 'Imran 19]

“If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah) never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost. (all spiritual good).” [Ali 'Imran 85]

Allah has perfected our religion: Islam, which is the refined version (just like software update) of Judaism and Christianity (just like Windows7 over Windowsxp !):

“…This day have those who reject Faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion…” [Al Maa-idah 3]

No believer can be a true muslim if he doesn't accept the prophethood of Moses (Peace be upon him) and Jesus (Peace be upon him). In the same way , a Jew is a true believer if he believes in the messengership of Jesus (Peace be upon him) and Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and a Christian is not a true christian until he holds the view that Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is the true messenger of the same Lord who sent Moses (Peace be upon him) and Jesus (Peace be upon him).